First memories of Rowdy

Even before Rowdy was in the spotlight, he’s held a unique place in the memories of friends and family.

When reflecting back to the day Rowdy was brought into our life, it’s hard to remember exact memories unless recaptured through video.

However, the emotion has stuck with me to this day.

I believe that emotion is the one thing that will always stick and is unhindered by time.

And let me tell you, Rowdy has been the catalyst of a rollercoaster of emotions, even before his come to fame.

The emotions that still endure are probably similar to any other young child that received a new best friend in dog form in the early stages of life.

Pure excitement and joy.

Ever since my first encounter with Rowdy he’s been a ball of pent up anxiety and energy.

He stepped onto the back yard of our old house on Umbenhower lane and immediately darted in every direction, eluding the outstretched hands of three eager children desperate to pet his fluffy puppy fur.

I remember after four minutes of meandering around the yard chasing what seemed like a wild pig, Rowdy stopped and let my mom pet him for a brief second.

What seemed a friendly gesture turned out the complete opposite.

My six year old self was standing five yards away, curiously and innocently watching the next events play out.

I’m fairly certain I remember Rowdy slowly turn his head and lock his eyes with mine.

He had a fierce, dominant look in his eye that my sister and I would soon become very familiar with.

Rowdy then turned his attention back to his target, arched his back, took two steps onto the arm of my mom and started, for lack of a better word, humping her.

Tongue out and everything.

After watching video footage, I learned that those five minutes of organized chaos were the very first five minutes of my life with White Eyed Rowdy.

I believe that sums up how the rest of the fourteen years played out.

It was a crazy fourteen years, but throughout all of Rowdy’s near death experiences, altercations with the law, and getting a little too comfortable with legs, I believe that it was all for a reason.

There’s no way that it was all a coincidence.

After surviving poison, being shot by a cop, an infection caused by a thorn, losing limbs, almost drowning, almost falling off cliffs hiking, and more…

…He still, somehow, came out the other side and sparked a movement that touched the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people.

I think that’s proof enough that something else was at play his whole life and it was no fluke.

His message’s foundation is built on being comfortable and confident in your own skin, and it was originally created to boost the confidence of kids with vitiligo (the same “disease” as Rowdy).

And it’s had a major impact on many adults and children with the condition.

However, we think Rowdy’s story and message has the potential to scale even further.

Being confident and comfortable in your own skin is a value that should hold more weight in the society we are moving towards.

According to Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 27.6% of American citizens were obese in 2013. The organization estimates that 3/4 of the American population will likely be overweight or obese by 2020.

Yes, efforts should be made to try and cut that percentage down, but we think that it’s also extremely important to change how we perceive each other.

Change starts in ourselves and how we think.

We can’t ignore that the number is growing, so we should strive to give everybody confidence and comfort in their own skin regardless.

We can’t ignore the tension created after the presidential election. It can be difficult at times to place yourselves in the shoes of others, but we all come from different cultures, opinions and worldviews.

The mixing pot of principles that is America is what makes it a pretty cool place to be.

Instead of focusing on our differences and letting them get between us, we should accept differences, allow everybody to feel confident and comfortable in their own skin and try, and work together in search for understanding.

This same point goes back to the last post about vitiligo: instead of focusing on the cure, think about how to see it as a unique blessing.

Rowdy’s message has the ability to reach you through many different angles.

It started with vitiligo, but we all find insecurities for our own reasons, and the more we find confidence in ourselves, the more we can share it with others.

We get caught in negative feedback loops, and our mind makes up fake stories about why we aren’t good enough; why we don’t look good enough; why he or she doesn’t like you; why we don’t have everything we want.

It’s hard to be confident with those thoughts, and the way to reverse them is to live in the present moment, understand that we are who we are, and we all offer the world something great.

Hopefully Rowdy’s lasting legacy has the ability to break some of these feedback loops and reach people in a personal way, giving as many people as possible confidence and comfort.

If you’re reading this, then that means your one of Rowdy’s more serious followers.

So we wanted to thank you for being so passionate about him, but we also want to ask a favor from you.

We want to get to know you a little better, so on Rowdy’s last Instagram post (about this blog post) write a question you have for Rowdy or us—his family.

It could be anything, just share something you’re curious about, and we will try and answer all those questions for you.